BBM-Sara UniTeam: A tandem not meant to last

Just like many other political tandems, the UniTeam alliance between President Marcos and Vice President Sara Duterte didn’t last.

- By HELEN FLORES and ALEXIS ROMERO

But what surprised many was how quickly the once formidable alliance that won them landslide victories in 2022 turned into a bitter breakup in just a span of two years.

The Vice President launched vicious attacks against her former running mate, even threatening – on live video – to have someone kill him, his wife Liza and cousin Speaker Martin Romualdez, if she would be assassinated.

Malacañang considered Duterte’s midnight tirade last month as an “active threat,” but she claimed her instructions to have her estranged ally Marcos assassinated was a mere “plan without a flesh.”

Analysts believe the feud between the two powerful families is likely to worsen ahead of next year’s midterm elections as both would struggle to win more allies in preparation for the 2028 presidential race.

It was in April when the rift between the Marcoses and the Dutertes became public. The First Lady admitted being offended by the Vice President’s laughing at a joke about the President being a drug addict, delivered by the former president in a speech during a rally in Davao City in January.

The First Lady admitted that from then on, she snubbed the Vice President on several occasions.

Some said the falling out between Marcos and Duterte started as soon as the President picked his cousin Martin Romualdez to be the Speaker.

Duterte has insinuated that among the conditions set when she agreed to slide down as Marcos’ running mate instead of being the standard bearer was the installation of her “mentor” Gloria MacapagalArroyo as speaker.

Following reports of a brewing coup being staged by Arroyo with the Vice President’s support, which they did during the Duterte administration, Romualdez stripped Arroyo of her post as senior deputy speaker. The former president denied the coup rumors.